Team:Dundee/HumanPractice

Our Human Practices is the exploration into environmental, political, sociological, legal, ethical, economic, and philosophical dimensions of synthetic biology. In this pursuit, we have attempted to engage the public with synthetic biology and our project. The Dundee Life Sciences sector contributes 16% of the local economy, making it crucial that we keep the public involved in what we do.

We initiated a political campaign to inform the public about the issue and question the lack of scientific back up in current legislations. To bridge the gap between the scientific knowledge and public legislation, we brought together representatives of local parliament, environmental agencies, respected researchers (working in this field), local park rangers and Friends of the Earth. Together they discussed synthetic biology and how to deal with algal blooms.

Additionally, we approached a range of age groups to educate them on the problem caused by algal blooms and propose how synthetic biology may be a solution. We strived to engage people from all backgrounds by attending events or setting up meetings with groups from different disciplines such as:

• School Science Workshops
• Undergraduate teaching practicals
• Cafe Science
• Dundee tech meet up
• Friends of the Earth
• SEPA – Scottish Environmental Protection Agency

Furthermore, we took advantage of current social media set ups to engage a larger audience. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr and Google+ were all updated on a regular basis communicate our progress and achievements.

Some novel approaches we took to captivating the public were through a comic book and video game. These entertained our audience, particularly the younger generation, and demonstrated a humorous side to synthetic biology.

Dundee’s slogan, “One City, Many Discoveries”, emphasises the appreciation of the local community in developments for the future. This attitude is specific to new and exciting concepts, Synthetic Biology included.